In her latest attack, the prime accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case, Swapna Suresh, charged three top CPI-M leaders with sexual misconduct, kicking a fresh row. According to Swapna, two leaders — former Devaswom minister and incumbent MLA Kadakampally Surendran and former Assembly speaker- P Sreeramakrishnan — made direct moves and sent lewd messages to her. Former Finance Minister Thomas Isaac invited her to Munnar’s picturesque tourist hill station. According to her, Kadakampally Surendran is ‘dirt’ and shouldn’t be allowed into any proper household.

The leaders, according to Swapna, acted like (sexually) starved stray dogs. These CPM leaders behaved like frustrated college boys and called her frequently. Each time they used crude language and addressed her like young boys that did not fit their status or age. Usually, when such information surfaces, arrests are made right away since they are non-bailable. But then again, for the communists in Kerala, the existing rules typically do not apply. 

Swapna has been reminding the public about the illegal transactions of Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family for some time now. Cycnical political observers believe these three CPI-M leaders can sail through without much trouble, because nothing much happened even after Swapna leveled allegations against Vijayan’s daughter for selling Covid data. She has also explained how gold from the UAE embassy was transported in biriyani vessels to Vijayan’s official residence. It is puzzling that even after Swapna challenged these top leaders, including Vijayan, they have not filed a defamation suit.

Threats to Swapna began as soon as she revealed the names of these top politicians/influential officers. Local advocates abandoned her en masse. Had it not been for the efforts of a few lawyers like R Krishna Raj, Swapna would not even have had someone to defend or represent her version of events in court. Threats and false cases against Krishna began almost immediately.

It’s been many days since she publicly named the three leaders, but there is total silence from the top CPM leadership. Some local leaders have resorted to accusing Swapna of being an ‘RSS stooge’ and reminding their cadre of the 2021 assembly election win even after the gold smuggling scam became public. Such statements tease the ordinary communist cadre in Kerala since they are the ones who reelected the Marxists back to power. All three accused tried to defend themselves, but their explanations did more harm than good for themselves and the communist party. 

P Sreeramakrishnan

Swapna had previously stated that Sreeramakrishnan had summoned her to his official residence alone, requested her to join him for drinks, and moved toward her sexually. The former speaker said that Swapna and her family visited his official pad to discuss ‘official matters.’ He claimed he wasn’t reckless enough to invite her alone to a home where he and his family stayed.

Swapna retorted back and uploaded damning photos of Sreeramakrishnan on her social media accounts. As evidence of her close relationship with him, Swapna posted some personal images of the latter on Monday. She included two selfies that the CPM leader had sent her, one on his bed and the other on a couch. Swapna noted she was in his official ‘bedroom’ waiting for drinks.

After posting the photographs of Sreeramakrishnan on her Facebook page, Swapna said, “This is just a simple and humble reply and a reminder to Mr. P Sreeramakrishnan for his FB post and related arguments. In case this doesn’t remind him of the rest, then I request this gentleman to please file a defamation suit against me so that I may be able to produce the rest of the evidence before the Hon’ble Court.” Sreeramakrishnan, in his Facebook post, claimed that he never misbehaved with any woman and meekly added, “The Sangh Parivar is behind the allegations.”

In late December 2019, Sreeramakrishnan bunked an assembly session and inaugurated a ‘Carbon Doctor’ workshop owned by the gold smuggling case accused Sandeep Nair. The CPM leader was seen cozying up to Swapna during the function. Back then, CPI (a partner in the LDF government) leader and Nedumangad MLA C Divakaran reminded Sreeramakrishnan that there was no need for high-profile people like him to participate in such events.

Back then, Sreeramakrishnan refuted the allegations and claimed that he was giving Swapna the ‘respect’ he would have given to any diplomat. Swapna was not a diplomat but the UAE ambassador’s secretary, and Nair was a known criminal with a colorful history. Five accused in the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case – Nair, Musthafa, Abdul Azeez, Nandagopal, and Mohammed Anwar – were pardoned by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) special court in March 2021 and made approvers in the case. By October 2021, Nair was granted bail in several other court cases. Usually, such criminals are not allowed to become approvers, and there were allegations against the NIA that soon died down.

Sreeramakrishnan, who will turn 55 in a month, served twice as Ponnani, Malappuram’s representative in the legislature. He was not nominated for the 2021 Assembly elections. After the communists were reelected, Vijayan appointed Sreeramakrishnan as head of the state-run Roots-Norka. This organization acts as a ‘watchdog’ for the welfare of the Kerala diaspora. The controversial leader was part of the delegation that toured Europe recently along with ‘captain’ Vijayan.

Thomas Isaac

Swapna alleged that Isaac was not directly interested but gave some signals. He asked her to come alone to his official residence and asked her upstairs. Isaac then invited her to visit Munnar.

Isaac told reporters that his residence had a living room upstairs and downstairs. When reading or studying upstairs, he would invite the visitors upstairs. Official meetings are also held upstairs. There is another staircase leading up from the front, so one does not have to enter the house. What is so unusual about asking anyone to come up, asked Isaac.

About the second allegation about his invite to Munnar, Isaac asked whether any ‘sane minister’ would go to a tourist center to hang around. He added that Munnar does not have ‘enough accommodation’ and said that Swapna’s allegations defy common sense. 

“It was an official banquet, and everyone, including KIFBI officials and the UAE Consul General, was there. Many discussions took place; I don’t remember all that now”, Isaac said. “Naturally, I might have asked the consul whether they want to travel through Kerala or see the Alappuzha boat race. Who can remember it now?” he added in his defense. He said that he never went to Munnar, even once as a minister. 

Swapna did not mention when she was invited to Munnar, and Issac’s response seems like a self-goal. Analysts fear that Issac’s Munnar jibe might have felt like a tight slap on the face for Mohammad Riyas, the tourism minister and Vijayan’s son-in-law. Incidentally, Munnar has more than adequate hotel rooms and homestays for an ecologically fragile region. The real issue is that greedy governments and capitalists do not care about the sheer number of tourists that arrive there. Roads are pathetic; incidentally, Riyas is also the public works department minister. 

“What is happening is BJP’s aspirational politics. The accused in the smuggling case created a big stir in Kerala politics. People did not accept this in that election. The accused (Swapna) is BJP’s foster daughter. BJP is probably giving her complete protection and scripting this story. Politics is forcing the BJP to blame top leaders of CPM”, said Isaac trotting out the familiar excuse of all under-fire ‘secular’ politicians.

Kadakampally Surendran

Another former minister Kadakampally Surendran responded to the allegations made by Swapna that he had taken a photograph by holding her shoulder and termed them ‘false’. He also explained that legal action against Swapna would be decided after consultation with the party. This threat is the same position that all the accused CPM leaders have taken but are yet to fulfill. The following is his response.

“The first allegation is that I went to Swapna’s house. Her house is in Ramapuram, where I had gone as a minister to inaugurate the new office of the expatriate organization led by the party. After the ceremony, as per the organizers’ wishes, all the leaders who participated in the ceremony, including me, went to the house directly opposite the office and drank tea. Only after going there did I realize it was Swapna’s house. We spent five or ten minutes drinking tea and returned together”, he said.

“Another allegation is that I tried to implicate her brother in a false case. I have not tried to involve anyone. But a girl in our party had to fight a month-long battle to get justice. That is true. The third-year BA student fought a big fight to get justice,” he added. Details about the case he has alluded to remain unknown.

Surendran admitted that he was on ‘good terms’ with Swapna and the UAE Consulate. He claimed that everyone tried to locate the alleged photos he took with Swapna and failed. His explanation still defies the rationale behind a Devaswom and tourism minister dealing with the embassy of a foreign country. Recent developments prove that Surendran is a crucial player in the anti-national agenda of the communists.

Marxist selective amnesia

Notably, Vijayan and his top brass had slammed the then CM Oommen Chandy after his office staff and ministers turned out to be ‘close’ to the Solar scamster Saritha Nair in 2013-2016. Back then, the same communists led by Vijayan and his cronies had set Kerala on fire. Hartals and bandhs with sleazy posters were the order of the day. Interestingly, not a single ‘upholder of human rights’ is ready to defend Swapna this time. Selective amnesia is an art that the communists have mastered since their wretched ideology took its roots in the so-called number-one socialist state of Kerala. 

In other ‘secular’ news, Eldhose Kunnappilly, a Congress legislator on the run for the past several days, reappeared after getting anticipatory bail. A former lady friend accused him of rape and attempted murder. Kunnappilly emerged before the police probe team on Saturday.

In a statement, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) said the explanation provided by the MLA was not satisfactory, and the party suspended him from the KPCC and District Congress Committee (DCC) memberships for six months.